Reverie

"Tie your answer sheets everyone, time's up!"
The invigilator's voice rang through the hall, music to the students' ears. It was the day of the last exam, and no one felt irritated by the invigilator's voice anymore. His apparent love for the microphone and screaming into it constantly had not been overly appreciated by the students in the past, especially when they were concentrating so hard. But there was one student present in the exam hall who wasn't jumping in joy or cheering, it was Jaden. He was sitting head in hands, overwhelmed by emotions. Misery which he wasn't able to express. He got up and started walking towards the exit, with hall ticket and purse clutched tightly in his fists. The exam was easy, it was the last exam of his school life, but surprisingly he didn't feel relieved. He hated school and exams and studies, even though everyone called him a nerd. Only his closest friends knew how he actually was. That thought made him almost tear up, but he held it together. He could leave this place, leave them and leave his past. He could just run away, no one would care. But he knew this wasn't true. Over the 18 years of his bumpy life, everything he knew was here in this city. He had never changed schools, never moved town and never gone away like this ever before. He found himself walking towards his car, and before he knew it, he had unlocked the car and got in. He realized he hadn't said goodbye to anyone, and he thought it was better that way. After all, it was better not to test his own emotional strength. Everything had a limit, and he was about to reach his. With tears in his eyes, he swerved into the main road. Racing through the traffic back to his home. His flight was at 4 pm and it was already 1 pm. The time was finally here, the dreaded moment, something that had its own different scenarios in a hundred ways in his sleepless nights. He reached home and helped his mom pack everything up, still not uttering a word. His mother didn't ask him anything, she knew well enough not to. They got ready to leave, his eldest brother had offered to drop them at the airport. As he heard the main door being unlocked, along with it rang his mother's phone. He didn't pay much attention to it at first, but then he heard his Dad's voice over the phone and his mother's equally anticipated voice. As his mother hung up the phone with a sheepish smile, he asked her what the matter was. Apparently, the trip was cancelled. He was supposed to stay here and prepare for his further studies. He felt like he was in a dream, the voices blurred out and the faces dimmed in his eyes. Without waiting to hear more, he grabbed the car keys and ran out, cellphone on one ear, getting in the car. At first his friends were blunt in answering, caught up with the way he left them without saying goodbye. But when they heard the news, all that changed. Plans over plans were made and before long he found himself at the beach, music playing, friends all around, and partying like there's no tomorrow. They spent the night dancing and swimming and singing. The perfect hangout, the night no one will ever forget. They had brought tents to sleep in and they were set up on the sand. They all climbed in and after some small talk everyone was fast asleep. Jaden wiped away a tear and turned over in his sleeping bag. "Dreams do come true.", he thought.

The light seeped in through the rusty window and he could hear crows cawing in the background. He was perplexed, how can crows be here? He got up and looked out the window, thats when it hit him. Like a dark cloud descending on his parade, it all came back to him. He was back in his homeland, there never was a call from his father. He never bid farewell, he had left hastily. He was gone, away from them. He was alone.